Why do people use Ballpoint pens ?

[Orpilorp]

The term 'invincible ignorance' refers to the state of never having heard "the true message." We ballpoint pen users do know that most fountain pens are good, but we also understand that many ballpoints are also good. We keep things in perspective, and with everything in its right place we elect to use ballpoints.

 

We have the grace to accept those neophytes who feel fountain pens are always the preferable choice, knowing that sometimes a ballpoint is the superior option and that always any late-era Wearever fountain pen is cr@p.

 

I will now remove tongue from cheek and will step down from my self-righteous soapbox.

[MHBru]

I love my fountain pens but travel extensively for business. I will not take them with me on the road but still use quality pesn... pelikan 800 ball point and rollerball, rotring 700 rollerball and a montblanc ballpoint. There is a time and place for everything...

[MHBru]

I love my fountain pens but travel extensively for business. I will not take them with me on the road but still use quality pesn... pelikan 800 ball point and rollerball, rotring 700 rollerball and a montblanc ballpoint. There is a time and place for everything...

[javyn]

I'm left-handed so I use ballpoint and gels exclusively. I love fountain pens and am often tempted to go for a Visconti or Mont Blanc, but they are just a hassle honestly to me, even without the smears I leave while writing left handed.

 

Visconti ballpoint shells hold Parker gel ink, and are very nicely balanced. With a little modification I can fit a Cross gel into my Mont Blanc Meister rollerball as well. And I even found a Cross ballpoint I like, the Nile (in blue). I'm good right now

Edited June 27, 2017 by javyn

[welch]

The ballpoint won out over the fountain pen because the ballpoint was less messy. It uses an ink-paste rather than liquid ink. You fill it by popping in a cylinder with ink-paste and tiny ball-bearing.

 

The competition was settled by the late '50s, when Parker released the T-Ball Jotter, the ballpoint with micro-crevices in its tungsten ball, crevices that scraped ink from the ink-paste. The BiC ballpoint stick, almost exactly the current "BiC Crystal", finished things. People bought Papermate ballpoints and Parker Jotters for about $1.98, or BiCs for about 15 cents. Wearevers could not compete with BiCs on the low end, and Parker and Sheaffer fountain pens could not compete on the high end.

 

I prefer gliding over paper with a fountain pen, rather than pressing down hard with a ballpoint, but I started with fountain pens. Younger people might never have touched a fountain pen.

[usk15]

I prefer gliding over paper with a fountain pen, rather than pressing down hard with a ballpoint....

 

I would recommend for you to try these hybrid ballpoint refills: Schmidt easyFlow 9000, Jetstream and InkJoy, extremely smooth ballpoint refills!

[Kid Parker]

I work for an auction house and use carbon paper for certain tasks. I prefer not to subject my fountain pen nibs to the degree of pressure needed, so ballpoints serve well for this function.

 

Besides, what's not to like about a ballpoint like this?

Edited July 2, 2017 by Kid Parker

[qvxb]

I work for an auction house and use carbon paper for certain tasks. I prefer not to subject my fountain pen nibs to the degree of pressure needed, so ballpoints serve well for this function.

 

Besides, what's not to like about a ballpoint like this?

You took the high road and didn't post a photo of the rotated pen.

[redpillow]

 

 

I work for an auction house and use carbon paper for certain tasks. I prefer not to subject my fountain pen nibs to the degree of pressure needed, so ballpoints serve well for this function.

 

Besides, what's not to like about a ballpoint like this?

Nice one!!

[Quill1]

Because it is the right item at certain times, e.g. some forms require to be filled in with a 'black ball point pen' , even in C21st, not everything is on line.

 

Also they are fun to use ! just as any other writing implement.

[Mister5]

Ball points are ubiquitous, cheap, generally reliable, and most people now have grown up using them. And when they're smooth flowing, quite nice. I'm not sure if its a Bic or a PaperMate that's floating on our coffee table that has a triangular grip, but I rather like it.

[bemon]

Every writing implement I use, including fountain pens, is chosen carefully and for a reason. Although fountain pens are and have always been my favorite I have no shame in using a ballpoint.

 

1. Pencils - must be Dixon Ticonderoga #2; great erasure

2. Ballpoint - Montblanc with blue Fisher refill: most comfortable ball I've ever written with and I like the ink. When I bought mine in 1994 it was only a hundred bucks.

3. Gel - Pilot G2 07 - Blue Ink. Signing checks and punching through multi- part forms

4. Papermate Flair Black - best ever for writing music; the mushier the tip the better.

 

Back to the original question - the ballpoint's refill will last longer than any other refill; if you loose a cheap one, so what; two or three are lying around in the car.

 

I carry a daybook to remind me of things I have to do. Several years ago the paper was good and didn't bleed, but now they've cheapened the paper so anything other than a pencil or ballpoint will bleed through.

 

I don't particularly like ballpoints, but sometimes practicality takes precedent.

Plus when you're on the go. I carry a Fisher Space Pen in my pocket when I'm dressed casually on evenings and weekends. I do have a pocket fountain pen, but it's considerably less reliable. If I loan it out and it was broken wouldn't care but then I couldn't use it. So, Space Pen it is. In fact I think I'm going to get another Space pen. The one I have I used to sign my daughter's baptism certificate so it's officially sacred.

[chaik76]

The term 'invincible ignorance' refers to the state of never having heard "the true message." We ballpoint pen users do know that most fountain pens are good, but we also understand that many ballpoints are also good. We keep things in perspective, and with everything in its right place we elect to use ballpoints.

 

We have the grace to accept those neophytes who feel fountain pens are always the preferable choice, knowing that sometimes a ballpoint is the superior option and that always any late-era Wearever fountain pen is cr@p.

 

I will now remove tongue from cheek and will step down from my self-righteous soapbox.

Oh, thank you. You said this much more nicely than I could have.

[qvxb]

Since the refill contains ink, a ballpoint is a fountain pen. Yay, Laszlo!

[bemon]

Since the refill contains ink, a ballpoint is a fountain pen. Yay, Laszlo!

That's a stretch.

[leewm]

I won't say that I love ballpoint pens but it has a place.

 

1. After all these years, nothing beats the the clicking thing on Parker jotters. It always stays up even when in the writing position (most ballpoints don't do this and the Vanishing point is just not the same).

2. Ballpoints can still write when not used for months. No need to dip in water to start up..

3. They can be be left in hot cars

4. They can be modified to be very small pocket pens and it doesn't matter if they get scratched up by keys.

5. Excellent for short notes on little pieces of paper/card that may come into contact with dampness.

6. They can write on almost anything.

7. They write for a very long time before any refilling is required.

 

Parker jotter with Fisher space refills are the best combo.

Edited August 18, 2017 by leewm

[TSherbs]

 

4. They can be modified to be very small pocket pens ....

I'd like to see that.

[Mech-for-i]

MY stand on this .. why not , I wager this same sentiment also goes towards Gel pen , Rollerball, fineliner , and pencils of all sort. They do not write like a fountain pen which is great, they have their own usage and their unique character and these days they can write just as well as any others. And needless to say most of the mentioned ones can take a beating and come out far less worse off than most fountain pens do.

[leewm]

I'd like to see that.

 

Here u are ... :-)

 

[Sasha Royale]

Forgive them, Kavanagh ! They know not what they do.

This is our mission. Join the cause of Evangelical Fountainpenism. Let us save the world, one

ink-stained hand at a time. He, who saves one poor soul from bp hand cramps, saves the world.